ethel
/ˈɛθ.əl/noun
ethel is spelled E-T-H-E-L: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data, counting Ethel, the name). As a noun, ethel means “The rune ᛟ” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of ethel is ethels.
How many letters and syllables are in ethel?
| Letters | 5: E-T-H-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is ethel?
Ethel appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form in the list. The list counts every capitalisation together, so this includes Ethel, the name.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ethel?
- /ˈɛθ.əl/
Ethel has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ethel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with ethel?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as ethel.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: lethe.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of ethel
- œthel
- ethels plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does ethel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The rune ᛟ.
- 2
The name of the Latin script letter Œ/œ.
- 3
Alternative form of athel (“tamarisk”).
For quotations using this term, see Citations:ethel.
adjective
- 1
obsoleteNoble.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ethel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense name of the Latin letter (Œ, œ):
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | e dans l'o |
| German | oe-Ligatur |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ethel come from?
Learned borrowing from Middle English ethel, from Old English ǣþel, ēþel.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).